CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – If it’s any indication of government eff ciency, the private sector seems to be lagging behind the fast-paced development in this soon-to-be highly urbanized city.
The North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), a modern expressway equipped with cutting-edge communications and traffic management systems which represents the private sector’s answer to the government’s call of taking on the challenge of replacing the weather-beaten and rapidly deteriorating 30-year old former North Luzon Diversion Road, has finally failed to keep up with this capital city’s rapid growth.
Based on the report of Mayor Edwin “Edsa” Santiago here on Wednesday the Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC), the builder and concessionaire of the NLEx, has no immediate plans of expanding its two-lane overpass along Jose Abad Santos Avenue (JASA) to ease traffic in the busy road.
Santiago bared a P2.2-billion infrastructure fund for Pampanga but no amount is appropriated for the narrow NLEx overpass causing a traffic bottleneck which falls under MNTC jurisdiction. Santiago said one of the big problems besetting the city is the horrendous traffic jams along JASA which builds up at any time of the day due to the inadequacies of the NLEx ingress and egress, malfunctioning electronic toll barriers as well as the narrow two-lane NLEx overpass which was built in the 1970s.
The mayor said he invited representatives of the MNTC in a meeting with the city, the business sector and other stakeholders at Carworld recently and asked for their immediate plans but found out they have none especially for the expansion of the NLEx overpass.
No plan
“Ala la palang planu (They have no plans),” he said, to the surprise of everybody present in the meeting. The mayor said MNTC officials especially its president and CEO Rodrigo E. Franco and even its parent company – Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC) President Ramonchito Fernandez – have been invited to attend the next meeting on September 28 at Carworld to present their plans.
“Palto yu ne ing plano yu nung kapilan ye palwalas ing overpass and the road up to SM and Robinsons (You should now present your plans when will you expand the overpass and the road leading to SM and Robinsons),” said Santiago.
He explained that the public works department cannot do the work because 200 meters before and after the center line of NLEx is the responsibility of the MNTC. “We cannot find a solution to the problem if they (MNTC) fail to meet their obligation,” the mayor said.
He said during the time of Ping De Jesus as president of MNTC, the toll fee was hiked to a staggering 1,000 percent from P14 to P140. But De Jesus promised that more collection means more services, he said. “People pass the NLEx everyday, where’s that promise now?” the mayor asked.
“Now if they still don’t have any plans, maybe we should tell them to work on other important issues like lighting the toll plazas, fixing malfunctioning electronic barrier controls and putting up of an easement or setback so that during rush hour traffic the stretch of the queue won’t be long along JASA,” he said.
The MNTC, which prides itself as a worldclass corporation, should now plan for the future, Santiago said. Century Properties “Some 3,000 families are expected to live at Century Properties (undergoing construction at the NLEx-JASA junction) that are projected to own at least one car, a theme park is also planned at SM with the tallest Ferris wheel in Asia, where will all they pass if not at the NLEx overpass,” the mayor pointed out.
“Etana milabas, itamu ing sisyan da ustung me traffic la ela man munta SM (We cannot pass anymore. We will be blamed if motorists and the riding public will get caught in traffic even if they’re not going to SM),” he said.
The city alone cannot do this that is why we have the congressman, public works, and the stakeholders, he said.
Meanwhile, Santiago said the city has an Annual Investment Plan (AIP). “It’s a law we follow every year where we present to the people the planning and promise to do them.” However, Santiago said his administration has done better than what the law stipulates because “we plan a three-to-five-year program that we call short range and 10-to-15-year program we call medium range so that future leaders and the people will know where the city is headed given the long range plans.”
However, he said the Geographic Information System (GIS) is not yet done as well as the ongoing urban renewal and a Master Development Plan that will be undertaken by a credible urban planner.
